September, 2017

While in St. Louis for work I checked out a chicken spot that had been suggested by a couple of coworkers: http://www.porterschicken.com Porter’s Fried Chicken on Big Bend Road.  It’s a small storefront in a small strip mall, and while most of the business is carryout there are a few tables for those who want to eat in.

Porter’s offers chicken with 2 levels of heat; the spicy chicken is on the left.  It had a pleasant, not overpowering burn and I think I liked it better than the regular, which was very good in its own right.  Porter’s also has fish and shrimp on the menu so I added a few shrimp to my order.

The next night we headed over to the Crestwood area for a visit to http://www.malonesgrillandpub.com Malone’s Grill & Pub, whose chicken recipe comes from the defunct St. Louis restaurant http://www.route66news.com/2006/11/28/historic-st-louis-restaurant-closes-flees-to-suburb Romine’s (closed 2006).

Many of the smaller photos that adorn the walls feature famous St. Louis sports figures.

Baked French onion soup isn’t a traditional accompaniment to fried chicken but I happen to like it, and Malone’s makes a nice version.

Of course, with a name like Malone’s it’s no surprise that there’s a potato soup on the menu as well.  My dining companion pronounced it very good, and it certainly looked rich and creamy.

From what I can tell, people who remember Romine’s chicken consider Malone’s to be a faithful representation of the original article.  I thought it was very good, with a fairly delicate flavor and excellent crust.

There are a few more places I hope to check out when my St. Louis visits resume next year.

February is a short month so to make sure it didn’t get away from me I took care of business this past Saturday at http://sunprairiediner.com Prairie Diner, in business in Sun Prairie, WI since 1967.  “Southern Fried Chicken” is not only the http://sunprairiediner.com/tab2.html first listed entree but it even gets it own little box, which tells me they’re pretty proud of it.
 
The building is tucked away by McDonald’s and Fuzzy’s Liquor on Windsor Street, just east of the US-151 interchange.

 
The interior may be a little dated but it was clean and comfortable.  On the other side of the wall is the counter area.

 
I believe fellow in the kitchen is the current owner, who bought the restaurant about a year ago.  I was sitting in the corner by the “front” door, which is really the side door that leads directly into the main area.

 
The soup of the day was a nice, beefy French onion with plenty of but not too many onions; I’ve mentioned it before but I’m not a fan of the onion stew that some places sell as soup.  And as a bonus the onion pieces were fairly small and soft, which is how I like them.

 
Hopefully one of my visits will be to a restaurant that offers chicken gravy but this day I had to settle for brown gravy on my potatoes – a very good, hearty brown gravy at that.

 
And eventually I did get to the chicken.

 
The first thing I noticed was that the pieces were definitely smaller than usual; the breast (shown above) was the size of the thighs that many other restaurants offer.  But that in no way is a negative because it allowed the chicken to be cooked faster and the meat was tender and juicy, which leads me to believe that Prairie Diner might use young birds.  I much prefer dark meat and always save the breast for last because it can sometimes be dry but that definitely wasn’t the case here as it was just as good as the other pieces.
 
The other big hit was the crust.  It was crispy, crunchy, coarse and pebbly with a good flavor and the right amount of seasoning, although I did get one bite that seemed to be a bit salty…perhaps some salt had clumped a little bit during the mixing process.  In any case it certainly wasn’t a big deal and this is the kind of crust that kids like myself love.
 
Prairie Diner has a definite local feel as most of the customers and staff appeared to be on a first-name basis with each other, and if it was closer to my house I’d easily make the occasional stop.  In fact, the other boxed entree on the menu is hot roast beef with mashed potatoes and gravy and that’s one of my favorites so I just might have to make a return visit before too long…

April
 
The http://www.parkwayfamilyrestaurant.com Parkway Family Restaurant has been just across the highway from my workplace for probably 20 years but for some reason I’ve only eaten there a couple of times, so late last month I headed over there after work for an early dinner.

 

 
I started with a cup of excellent chicken dumpling soup.  The broth was flavorful and well-seasoned with a light, peppery bite and the dumplings were soft but not to the point of being mushy.

 
The chicken was also well-seasoned and had a thin batter crust that fried up nice and crisp while being just slightly oily (in a good way).  A serving of mashed potatoes and flavorful gravy rounded out a very good dinner.

 

January, 2017

A couple of weeks ago I had to make another run to Delavan for charcoal (I really should just buy it by the pallet) and decided that this time I was going to head south to my dad’s home town of Walworth to check out https://www.facebook.com/Sammys-on-the-Square-222684361156607 Sammy’s on the Square, which is in what used to be the coffee shop and restaurant of the long-gone http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Content.aspx?dsNav=N:4294963828-4294963814&dsRecordDetails=R:HI10337 Wayside Hotel (I wonder if Duncan Hines ever ate and/or stayed there).

Because I was seated at a centrally-located table I couldn’t get a good shot of the interior so we’ll go straight to the food.  I started with a cup of creamy chicken soup, which was very good.  I added a little pepper but it didn’t need any salt.  And my apologies for carelessly discarding the wrapper from my drink straw.[:I]

The chicken was pretty good although it seemed like most of the seasoning was in the skin and crust; fortunately, the meat beneath had either been lightly seasoned as well or had picked up a little via osmosis.

Hot, crisp, and juicy.

The potatoes came with brown gravy instead of chicken gravy but that was OK, as it had plenty of flavor.  Maybe it didn’t go quite as well with fried chicken as a poultry-based gravy would have but I have no complaints.

While I was there it seemed like I was the only person who wasn’t recognized by name, so clearly Sammy’s is popular with the locals.  And I’d certainly stop there again.

No, not yet.[;)]  I really haven’t spent much time at all in the areas south and southeast of I-94 so there’s a lot of investigative potential.

April, 2015

Sometimes you have to leave The Country and travel to The Big City for chicken, so that’s what we did this past Wednesday.

This Village Inn definitely isn’t part of the chain!

No, this isn’t Canasta Night at Foodbme‘s house.[}:)]  The front of the Inn houses the bar and the modest dining room is to the back, and dinner service starts at 5pm so we had about 10 minutes to wait.  Diners aren’t led to their tables; instead, the bartender tells them where to sit.

We were told “first table on the right, when you’re ready”.

Some places automatically garnish an Old Fashioned with fruit (usually an orange wedge and a cherry) but the Inn offers olives and pickled mushrooms as well.  Given that I ordered mine sweet the fruit probably would’ve been the better choice, but I love pickled mushrooms.

I started with a bowl of potato bacon soup.  It had good flavor and was loaded with chunks of potato, some of which were still quite firm but I didn’t mind.

No excessive plate adornment here, and that’s just fine with me.  The chicken had a not-too-thin crust that crunched and crumbled nicely, and both it and the meat were decently seasoned.  I’d definitely order it again.

Around here these are known as Boston Browns and the Village Inn does a nice job with them.  The exteriors were nicely browned while the interiors were still white and potatoey, and with a little salt and pepper they were quite good.

Mrs. Chicken opted for the fried catfish and a baked potato.  While she didn’t care for the tartar sauce she thought the fish was fine, and the bite I had was nice and flaky without a strong fishy taste.

The Village Inn is open only for dinner but Footville also has a cafe that serves breakfast and lunch, and at just over 15 miles from home we’ll probably check it out sometime.  But I also won’t rule out another visit to the Inn to try something else.

Another good find Chicken Dude.

You should create a WI chicken trail
You are mistaken.  There is no good chicken in WI.  Stay the hell away.[}:)]

Once I’d committed to chicken for both Friday and Saturday of the long weekend I knew I had no choice but to follow through to the end.  But I was so unsure of where to go and how to get there…if only some guidance was available…

OK, I guess that works.[;)]  The http://www.thebuckhorn.net Buckhorn Supper Club has been on the southeastern shore of Lake Koshkonong since 1933 and is less than 30 minutes from our house, but I must shamefully admit that until July 5 I’d never been there.[:I]

In Wisconsin, quality boat-accessible restaurants and bars always have a classic beer sign (bonus points if the lighting only partially works) down by the pier(s), with PBR, Old Style, and their associated brands being the most popular.  An establishment choosing to display a sign for something like Sam Adams or Blue Moon would soon be out of business, either from lack of customers or arson.[}:)]

The interior is very much traditional Supper Club with its low ceiling, dim lighting, and separate bar area.  Unfortunately I was centrally seated along the low wall that divides the dining room and just didn’t have the angle a corner table gives.

Hey Mom…I’m filling up on breadsticks and you can’t stop me![;)]

Once again I started with onion soup, and this time I was completely happy with the browning of the cheese.  The Buckhorn’s version is akin to what I remember from my youth: a rich, hearty broth with plenty of but not too many onions, a nice amount of croutons, and those crusty bits of cheese that peel away from the crock.

It was closing in on 7:30pm on the Sunday of a 3-day holiday weekend and I’d pretty much cashed in my chips, but still had enough left to take on this very good fried chicken, which was actually broasted and that does make a big difference.  Hot, crusty, and almost too juicy, I’d have to say that by a very narrow margin this was my favorite chicken of the weekend and if there was a disappointment it was that mashed potatoes weren’t available and I had to have fries instead, although potatoes and gravy aren’t usually a typical supper club item.

Unfortunately I can’t remember my server’s name (Angela?  Andrea?  Maybe something not even beginning with “A”?) but she did a great job by being cheerful, quick, and just right when it came to attentiveness.

And that’s that.  3 days of fried chicken makes for a pretty good weekend![;)]